UCLA Center X Teacher Education Program

MS/SS Observation Form

Novice Teacher Date

Jenna Fishoff May 12, 2014
Observer School/Class
Jeff Share Clinton Elementary School, GT: Lisette Estrada, room B16, 3rd grade

TPE 1: Pedagogical Skills Observer Commentary
_X High-level tasks
Community circles
__ Think-pair-share
KWL chart
_X Concept map
__ Word bank
Self-reflection/Peer feedback
X Multiple modalities (incl. non-verbal)
Other
TPE 2: Monitoring Student Learning
X Checking for understanding
X Asking & answering relevant questions
Other
TPE 3: Use of Assessments
Use of criteria/rubric
Taking formal assessment
Completing projects
Student presentations
X Student flipbooks
TPE 4: Making Content Accessible
X Accessing prior knowledge
X Referencing lived Experiences
_X Scaffolding
Other
TPE 5: Student Engagement
_X Student participation
X Culturally relevant materials
Other
TPE 6: Developmentally Appropriate
Differentiation
X_ Use of media & technology
Other
TPE 7: Teaching English Learners
_ SDAIE methodology
X_ Academic vocabulary
Other
TPE 8: Learning About Students
Community building activities
Other
TPE 9: Instructional Planning
X_ Lesson plans
Agenda communicated to students
Other
TPE 10: Instructional Time
Starting and ending class
Transitions
Other
TPE 11: Social Environment
X Inviting and clean; safe
X Student work displayed
X Caring environment
Other
TPE 12: Professional, Legal, & Ethical
X Classroom management
X Teacher speech: clear, pace, warm, tone
Other
TPE 13: Professional Growth
TEP portfolio
Daily reflections
Other

Observation Focus: Social Studies: Three Branches of Government
9:08 T: Good morning. T explains about the 3 branches of government and how they make laws for
everyone to follow.
9:09 T tells sts to think about other places that have rules and why they had to follow the rules. She has them
pair share about this.
9:11 T and GT walking around listening to sts talking. Some sts just talking about places, not much about
rules.
9:13 T: 5,4,3,2,1 T tells that she heard some really good ideas and asks sts to share. One girl tells about how
at Disneyland she was told on a ride to keep hands and legs inside. T asks why she thinks they have that rule. St: so
you wont get hurt. These were great responses. I especially like the way you asked follow-up questions,
encouraging the students to tell you why.
9:14 St tells about rules at monuments. T asks why and st says so you wont break the monument. St
mentions going to Skyzone and T asks what is Skyzone. He explains about the rules there.
9:15 T mentions that a common theme is that the rules help keep people safe. T tells that today we will learn
about how government works. She asks who has heard of an elected official.
9:16 One girl tells what she remembers about the word official. One girl mentions that her dad tells her
mom that they are not officially married. Too funny.
9:17 T asks about what jobs they know of that people are elected to do. T explains about the president being
elected. She tells them to think about jobs that people are elected for, elected officials and what they might do.
9:18 Sts pair share about this. T and GT walk around talking with student pairs. Sts dont seem to have much
prior knowledge about this. A couple students know a few things, but most are struggling with this. This could
have been a good place to show pictures of elected officials to give students more support for the task. You could
have even created a PowerPoint with pictures and questions to see if they could guess before seeing and then with
the clue of the picture. With PowerPoint you could bring in different clues.
9:20 T and GT helping a lot, most sts are not getting far in this discussion on their own with this topic.
9:21 T: ok class, class. Sts: yes, yes. T writes on the board: elected officials & name.
9:22 T asks what is the top elected official. She writes the word president, then on the second column writes
Barack Obama. T continues to ask who is underneath and she charts their answers.
9:23 Sts very excited to guess at the questions. One st asks, how do you know this stuff? T: Im smart. This
could have been a good question to help students learn different ways of finding out this information. Because in
reality, most of us dont know who all our representatives are. So it could be helpful to mention to students
different ways of finding this information (websites, books, government offices, etc.) T asks who is the governor.
One girl knows his name and T charts it on the board.
9:24 T erases the titles and names that she just wrote. T shows a video of BrainPop. T explains a little about
what they will see.
9:25 Video begins. Sts all watching silently. It is a good idea to stop videos from time to time to check for
comprehension. Like reading a book, you want to stop and check occasionally. There is a lot of information in this
video. Stopping occasionally can help break the information up into chunks that can be easier to remember. This
was too much information in one viewing.
9:31 T asks who else thinks it should be ice cream day every day. T: who can tell me what the 3 branches of
government are? One st calls out executive, and then T asks what else and eventually with guidance she tells them
the 3 branches of government.
9:32 T passes out a page of information and explains that they will read about the 3 branches and learn how
rules get made and laws get passed.
9:33 T calls on one boy to read the first part. T charts on the board 3 columns. T tells sts to copy the chart
that she just made on the board: Executive, Legislative, Judicial.
9:35 T explains what they will do. She tells sts they will read this really slowly and when they see a fact to
add they should raise their hand. T has boy read the first paragraph again.
9:36 T asks another boy what he wants to add. He tells about the first part. T charts president and 5 million
workers under the executive. T tells the students to copy what she writes on the board.
9:37 T asks for anything else they could add. St mentions the judicial. T charts it.
9:38 T asks about the last one and one boy mentions the legislative. T charts that. T still at front. Walk
around so you can check to see that everyone is with you.
9:39 T has another boy read the next section. T: so who is the head of the executive branch? Sts not sure.
Then T tells them to read that first sentence again. Sts then say, president.
9:40 T asks what else they could add under the executive branch and he enforces the laws, what else could
we add? Sts repeat back what she just said.
9:41 T pulls sticks and calls on Natalia. She stands up and reads. Great to use the equity sticks for calling on
students.
9:42 T: I see a lot of facts there for the legislative branch, who wants to tell me one? Sts: give some ideas. T
leads them to answer. T asks how many senators there are in Congress. T asks why are their 100, a couple students
answer because there are two from each state. Great.
9:43 T asks comprehension questions about the text they just read. A couple sts call out ideas. T asks who
can tell her that in a complete sentence.










9:44 T charts their answers. T retells what the legislature does. T: are the senators and representatives elected by eligible voters in their states? Nobody answers at
first. Then the second time they answer. I wonder how many understand the words.
9:46 Sts copying what the T has written on the board. T moving around the room more now. Great to move around and not just stay at the front.
9:47 T pulls another stick and calls on another st to read. T: Sophia can you read the next paragraph for us? Sophia reads the last paragraph.
9:48 T: so what did we find out about the judicial part of our government in that paragraph? Some sts call out different things from the paper. T asks what does it
mean to interpret? T then explains that to interpret means to understand and think about.
9:49 T asks what the 9 justices do. She calls on Ivan and he reads a part of the text about them.
9:50 T: do you remember what Annie said the Constitution is? Nobody answers and T says I think we are going to watch the video again. T reminds them that all
these different points are in the reading, we just read it. Be careful not to expect them to understand as you do, just because they read the same thing. Lot of the text was
difficult and these are a lot of new words and ideas.
9:51 T talking with GT at back of room. Sts talking and some writing.
9:52 T explains that she will assign a different branch of government to each table. T tells them they will work in groups and talk about what your specific branch
does, who is in the branch and what they do. T does a quick checking for understanding, asking who can tell me what you will do.
9:53 One girl tells. T then points to each table and asks them what branch they were assigned. T and GT walk around checking with each table.
9:57 Sts having a hard time with this. What could be done to help them better understand this content? Consider all sorts of different strategies that could be used.
9:58 T walking around and checking with each group. Sts are basically reading the answers, but dont seem to be understanding well. T calls the classs attention and
then asks different tables to tell about the branches. First she calls on tables to talk about executive.
9:59 T then calls on tables to tell about the Legislative. Some sts can tell and some sts just reading.
10:00 T keeps asking questions and sts are doing better at answering the factual questions. PA announcement cancels PE and recess because of weather.
10:01 T asks about the judicial. T then tells them they will make little flipbooks so they can remember about the different branches of government. GT passes out
papers while T explains what they will do as she shows her example. Creating the flipbooks was a nice idea.
10:02 T continues to explain what they will do and how. T then checks for understanding and asks who can tell what they will do. Sts talking and T retells the
instructions. T stops and asks what they will do inside the flipbook. Well done. T asks if there are any questions. One girl asks what to do if they dont have glue. GT
encourages her to problem solve and another student tells her to ask another student.
10:04 T sends sts one table at a time to choose their colored paper. Good to excuses sts one table at a time.
10:05 Bell rings. Sts are getting their papers and beginning to work. T still excusing sts to get their papers.
10:07 T plays music and sts working well on task. GT walking around and checking on sts. T posting her example on the board.
10:09 T and GT walking around the room and checking with sts as they work. T points out to one st that on the dark blue paper they might need a marker to see their
writing.